My Overly Ambitious Start to the Year – Pecan Power Balls {Recipe}

Well, here we are, in the very last days of January. I’m still greeting people I haven’t seen yet this month with “Happy New Year” because, guess what, it’s still the new year! And because I like to hold on to the festivity of the holidays. It’s true, I even still have my outdoor lights and greenery up. Because after all, that’s the whole point, right? To bring light in the face of the dark of winter. And last I checked it can get pretty dark out there.

Meanwhile, how’s it going with those new years resolutions?

For my part, I can tell you I started off way too ambitiously. I decided that in the first week of the month, I was going to jump right in and kickstart everything that needed to be changed and start a bunch of new stuff too. New year, new me!

My list looked something like this:

• Get up at 6 am, establish a morning ritual: meditate, yoga, morning pages, walk
• Start Intermittent Fasting: Fast Monday & Wednesday
• Tuesdays – set aside as writing day
•  Catch up on all the work items that were set aside during the holidays (that list had dozens of items on it)
• Create winery event schedule for 2019
• Pay bills/tuition
• Figure out how to use my new InstantPot. Test some recipe
• Clean out fridge

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I accomplished all of about 20% of it.

Why does this happen? What’s so special about January? You would think I’d know better than to try and add all those new things at once (Items 1, 2 and 3 were all new).

By the middle of that week, I felt exhausted and overwhelmed. So I did a double check and gave myself a good talking to “There’s nothing wrong with gradual change! Remember: Seek progress, not perfection.” Etcetera

The rest of the month has been more normal. And I did just get the fridge cleaned out this weekend! Check!

In these ambitious times, things can get a little rough – like around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. At least they do for me. But now I have armed myself with these little balls of magic, and I suggest you do the same.

Pecan Power Balls are a delicious nugget of good-for-you stuff that is sweet enough to feel like a treat and – as the name suggests – mighty enough to give you a kick in the pants to power through the afternoon In addition to that, they take only about 20 minutes to make, so that’s a bonus too.

If you have any other brilliant ideas for managing it all, please let me know. I’m in the market!

Print Recipe

Pecan Power Balls

These power balls are dense with good-for-you ingredients, take hardly any time at all to make and will rev you up for a workout or lift you over a mid-afternoon slump. There also great with a cup of coffee. 

Prep Time20 mins

Total Time25 mins

Course: Snack

Servings: 16 balls

Author: Marco Canora

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons ground pecans Use a spice grinder or small food processor to grind to a sand-like consistency
• 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed again, use a spice grinder here
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• fine sea salt

Instructions

• Reserve the finely chopped pecans for the end. 

  In a bowl, combine all of the other ingredients - the ground pecans through the almond butter. Add a good pinch of sea salt. Using a rubber spatula thoroughly mix everything together. If the almond butter is clumping, use your fingers to knead and break it up so it can smoothly incorporate with the rest of the ingredients. 

  Refrigerate for about 15 minutes or until the dough is firm but still pliable. 

  Spread the chopped pecans on your work surface or in a shallow bowl. Scoop out a heaping teaspoon of the dough and, with wet hands, roll it into a ball. Then roll it in the chopped pecans until thoroughly coated. Repeat with the remaining dough. 

  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.